Song Writing Course

Who it's for: Creative, imaginative and looking to get that song out of your head and in to the charts. This songwriting course is designed for those of you who want to learn how to write a hit through a series of songwriting workshops with professional songwriters. So if you want to learn how to be a songwriter, read on!

What you will learn: As well as structure, arrangement, melody, harmony and lyrics, our songwriting course will cover publishing, session work for other people, and writing for film, TV and radio, how copyright works and what to do with your work on completion.

Industry Connections: Delivered to you by active professional songwriters whose current and past collaborations include the Sugababes, Mark Owen, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Natalie Imbruglia and Dubstar.

Listening to music	How to approach songwriting; brief musical history; how to analyse music and understand different styles; recognising musical parts and arrangements; discovering the best way for you to work.
Basic music theory	Chord construction; chord progressions; relative chord progressions; beats, bars and phrasing; harmony; melody; groove; meter; rhythmic sub-division (different rhythms for different styles); syncopation.
Song structure and arrangement	The art of song structure (verse-bridge-chorus-middle 8 and so on); how to use different sounds for different purposes (pads/strings/backing vocals, lead lines, counter melodies, fills, themes). Analysing your favourite writers.
Lyrics	Approach to lyric writing; finding ideas; writing about subject matter you feel; developing a style; commerciality vs art; useful tips and tricks; introduction to writing for radio/advertising.
Rehearsal/practise time	Collaboration; refining your work before you commit to recording it; what do you excel at-lyric writing or musical composition?
In session: recording vocals	The order of recording; backing vocals; lead vocals; double-tracking; getting a good performance.
Editing vocals	Comping and patching vocals; balancing, bouncing and flying vocals.
Mixing your demos	Mixing as a whole with respect to ‘finishing’ your songs for presentation purposes. Knowing what to leave out. Basic FX use to perfect vocals.
The business	An introduction to how the music industry works: copyright, royalties, publishing, self-publishing, marketing and promotion, getting a record deal, avenues to pursue other than getting a record deal. Our songwriting course includes an extensive contact lists for all the above.